Chennai Metro Rail shifts office to Koyambedu permanently

चेन्नई Chennai (MAS): Chennai Metro Rail shifted its office from the earlier rented premises to its own administrative building in Koyambedu, near Poonamallee High Road, on Monday.

A Chennai Metro Rail spokesman confirmed that they had vacated their earlier premises in Harini Towers, Gopalapuram, and shifted to the new premises. The work on the administrative building, also known as the Operations Control Center (OCC) of Chennai Metro Rail, is still going on. Even the general consultants, who had their office at Alwarpet, have moved into the new office, the spokesman said.

Once the work on the Operations Control Center building in Koyambedu is complete, it will monitor all the trains of Chennai Metro Rail including those in the elevated and underground stretch. The office will provide information to the stationmaster and train operator. It will have the facility to track passengers at all times through surveillance cameras and station control rooms, at every station.

A Metro Rail spokesman said that around 200 staff had moved into the new office in the administrative building. This is just a temporary move, he added. He said that Metro Rail office would soon move out from the Operations Control Center to new headquarters, which is coming up in around 10-acre plot of land in Nandanam.

Chennai Metro Rail sources told CE that plans for the multi-storied building were in the initial stage. It could be a 20 to 25 storey building. It is believed that the work on the building will kickstart once it gets clearance from Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority and the Airport Authority of India.

Meanwhile, the trains for Chennai Metro Rail are being inspected by Research Designs and Standard Organisation (RDSO). This is the first inspection by the officials. “Once they inspect the trains, they will send in a report from Lucknow. Then we will try to comply with the report. After that there will be another inspection by the officials,” the official said.